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| | | Home»Cold Weather Alert !! |
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| | Cold Weather Alert !!
As and when cold whether approaches, it's important to monitor propagators, grow rooms , root zones and nutrient solutions in order to keep systems operating at optimum levels and to compensate for low temperatures.
Gardens in non insulated attics or garages are particularly susceptible. Always try to grow inside a part of the home like a spare or unused room that is insulated against the cold. Especially during the winter, new air drawn through your indoor garden should come from inside the house where temperatures are more moderate and CO2 levels high.
Propagators need to be kept at fairly constant temperature between about 21 to 27F when rooting cuttings, with more northern latitude varieties preferring 21 to 24F and more equatorial varieties preferring 24 to 27F. Heated propagators are also useful in keeping temperatures up and speeding up the rooting process. Other products which can help you achieve more 'friendly' temperatures during propagation include Gro Mat Heat Mats , Heat Mat Thermostat and the Oregon Scientific remote temp & humidity sensor .
Root zones are particularly susceptible to cold temperatures, since colder conditions not only slow down the plant growth but also cause damage to the cells on the outside of the root surface. Kindly pay extra attention to root zone and nutrient solution temperatures in N.F.T. or other similar systems where the roots are semi- exposed. However, 21F is the ideal temperature for root zones and nutrient solutions. This temperature is cool enough to maintain good oxygen content needed for the optimum growth rate scenario and warm enough to stimulate good growth rates. Root zones contained in rockwool slabs or coco are less directly susceptible to cold root zone problems which predominantly effect yield more than health.
Plant and leaves
Cold air around any part of the plant will start to affect potential yield. Large drops in temperature at night will at least cause slow growth, slight purpling, yield drop and at worst cause condensation, leaf tip and margin damage, and rot. Have your lights on at night if possible to help even out lights ON and OFF temperature and think about using temperature sensitive fan speed controllers.
Top Tips
• Turn off glass type nutrient heater for 15 minutes before toping up tanks to avoid breakages.
• Propagators: ideal temp. 24C (24 hours constant)
• Plant and leaves: 21 to 24C - lights OFF
24 to 27C - lights ON.
• Insulate indoor gardens in attics, or insulate the attic itself.
• Don't top up systems or feed pots with really cold water, let it stand and warm up a bit first.
• Root zones and nutrient solutions: ideal temp. 21C (24 hours constant). |
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